Feb. 12, 2018 – West Bend, WI – About 50 people attended Sunday’s Town Hall meeting at West Bend City Hall with Congressman James Sensenbrenner and 58th District Assembly Rep. Rick Gundrum.

The Congressman from the Fifth District took questions from the respectful audience for a little more than an hour. Topics ranged from taxes to military spending, Russian sanctions, DACA, and the wall.

Melissa Bublitz -concerned about Russian sanctions not being sanctioned. Very disturbed. What active measures Congress will enact sanctions.

-J.S. -“I have no use for the Russians and Vladimir Putin. I favor strong Russian sanctions being imposed. We need to be in close cooperation and push the European Union.”

-J.S. – “I met Putin, he was cold and impersonal.”

-J.S. – “Putin ought to be punished for all of the misdeeds he has done. He wants to restore the boundaries of the former Soviet Union.”

Jim Geldrich – talk about the tax break for all

-JS – “Ninety-seven percent of people in Wis. who make less than $100,000 a year will see a tax cut.”

-JS – “Companies gave $1,000 bonuses or increasing their base wage and put more money into employee’s 401k, encourages more employment to lower unemployment rate.”

Jeanne G. – We need both parties, we need people not to walk away from Trump. You said you voted against Trump on a bill – do you ever feel afraid?

-JS – “There are a lot of people who want to do harm to people in authority. This atmosphere wasn’t this way when I started in government.”

-JS – “We need to cool it as a society and recognize the framers who created the Constitution had all the checks and balances available.”

-JS – “Compromise and respect is what has made this country great.”

Jeanne Gustifson – How do you get back to that?

JS- “Watch a little less cable news.”

Elaine C. – Military spending, appreciate help of military especially with disaster and humanitarian aid. Don’t support giving military more than Trump has suggested. Don’t support selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Pentagon identified potential savings and I expect the savings to be used in more positive ways.

-JS – “I’m a deficit hawk but there are two problems with military. With equipment and personnel we’re at the lowest level since WWII. Lot of things military uses but they’re grounded because of a lack of spare parts. We need to get the money for spare parts, maintenance and training so military can use the stuff we already have.”

-JS – “A good percentage of money is used on personnel costs which are necessary to sustain an all-volunteer army. I am very opposed to a draft.”

Matt H. -How do you deal with dumb comments?

-JS – “We don’t campaign against each other. There shouldn’t be personal animosity when comments get in the media.”

Mary – Russian interference in our elections. What are you doing?

-JS – “There have been FBI investigations into Russian hacking and a lot of the investigations have not been disclosed to the public.”

-JS- “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

-JS – “Voting machines are not hooked up to the internet. Voting machines have a paper trail for accuracy.”

-JS – “I know Putin, I have met him and every fear Americans have are absolutely correct.”

Mary – Still the white house attacks our own DOJ

JS – I’m only responsible for myself and not what anybody else says

JS – Concern I have is what has been released is that the FBI did attest to the credibility to Fusion GPS.

JS – one reason Americans have convidence in the FBI is it’s never been used politically

Mark Allen – Hastert rule. Tax cuts and jobs act, how it became a jobs act – it clearly is tax cuts and when will we hold Dept. of Defense on spending? (Hastert rule. A philosophy that requires the “majority of the majority” to bring up a bill for a vote in the House of Representatives.)

-JS – “Every time there has been tax cuts there’s economic growth. First tax rate cut was proposed by Pres. Kennedy and that spurred economic growth.”

Allen W. – Republican’s getting spending under control has been disappointing.

Mary Gonwa – what would you do if you were in charge?

-JS – “So many things on the national agenda, to give Americans well-paying jobs is securing the border and help employers from breaking the law and hiring at a lower wage.”

-JS- “We have helped depress the wages by not securing the border.”

-JS- “Those in the U.S. for year round employment should get a different type of visa.”

Darlene Wall – are the illegals bringing more illness into the U.S.

-JS – “It has not caused an epidemic but we should be on guard and we should enforce the law currently on the books.”

Kathy Kiernan -ISIS has been defeated. What’s the status

– JS – “The ISIS controlled plans have been captured by allied forces. The ISIS people who remain have gone underground.”

-JS – “We need better sharing of intelligence with US allies and others under the gun of terrorism.”

JS – “Give staff info and until 2017 it was practically impossible to fire a VA worker. We passed a bill to change that. If the law needs some fine tuning we will do that.”

Marie – when is the wall coming?

-JS – “Only about 70 miles there’s not a physical barrier. Also asking for high-tech drones, infrared cameras in mountains or along the river where a fence won’t work.”

-JS- “Along the river there will be a trickle or torrent what Trump is proposing is a steep wall levy with a 3-foot fence on top of it. That could also be used for flood control when the water is raging.

Museum of Wisconsin Art

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